Hameed 1 Fatimah Hameed Mandviwala English 1304 26 February 2010 The Mistaken Analysis “ And now, while evening lies embalmed upon the west And a last faint pulse of life fades down the sky, We will go alone, my soul and I, To a hollow cadence down this neutral street”- William Faulkner, Love Song “Vision in Spring” 1921 Even without knowledge of the title, the photograph elicits the empathy of the viewer as a lone woman swathed in a vibrant red coat and gloves sits hunched on a park bench. The woman has one red glove covering the side of her face that matches her red jacket and nestled red purse, while the rest of her clothing including her hat and pants deepens to a black. The way she is slightly hunched seems to depict the burden she bears as she shields herself from the reality of the world with her hand. The picture is taken at her left side angle and she sits on the right side of the photograph. The photograph depicts her gloom and seems to emanate notes of her despair still hanging in the apparently chilly air. The dying embers of the sun reflect long shadows from the barren trees behind her onto the gritty gravel pathway. In the background, more shadows of trees and empty benches sprawl and disappear vaguely into the receding distance. The photograph emanates a feeling of isolation, as it is largely devoid of any life and is likewise evident from the shadows that all other benches are vacant in the picture, leaving the red woman to sit on her bench alone amidst a frozen and lifeless atmosphere. The usage of colors helps to enhance that feeling considering that the picture is to a certain extent bereaved of colors, taking an almost natural sepia tone to it, except for the woman and her red colors which draws the eye of the viewer to her. Upon closer inspection, small clumps of snow in the

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Hameed 2 gravelly distance lay lingering in a thoroughly melted world. A partial trunk of a tree clung to by one of the last remnants of melted snow stands to her right, as well as the edge of a lamppost base that also appears in the photograph. The last persevering clumps of white snow, untainted and pure, appear to represent the survival of the woman's hope even as it is slowly overcome by its harsh surroundings. The only other colors visible are the dreary browns and soft yellows cast from the setting sun and the vibrant red of her coat, gloves, and purse. The red amidst the lackluster colors represents her life, pulsing warm red and vibrant, in an otherwise barren and frozen season that crushes life. Red symbolizes not only blood and vitality, but passion as well. Her passion adheres to the depth of feelings that she bears and the centralized red therefore depicts not only the significance of life in a frozen atmosphere but the intensity of her feelings as well. Leatrice Eisman agrees that red is the “very ebb and flow of life. . . the most viscerally alive hue, the symbolic color of the heart. . . [which] express[es] strong emotions” (7). Her heart is therefore the rawest part of her, holding yet also radiating her

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